Rice can be the trickiest thing or the most simple of affairs. If you don’t have the knack – you may be fighting time and time again on the quest to make the perfect Rice. The good news is – Once you have the technique for perfect Rice, you will never have to suffer through subpar Rice again. Even luckier, I have the secret strategy so many are trying to perfect – and I’m going to teach you.
For the perfect fluffy rice cooker rice. Prep the Rice well, using a rinse – soak – rinse technique. First, rinse the Rice to get rid of any debris. Next, soak the Rice in cold water for at least 30 minutes, and finally, rinse the Rice to ensure any remaining starch is removed. Cook using a 1:1 rice-to-water ratio.
Pretty simple. Many people make the critical mistake of focusing on the cooking rather than the prep. Or even worse – Pour dry Rice straight into the rice cooker. Following this technique, you will have delicious Rice 100% of the time. However, after cooking Rice for years – there are a few pro tips for even fluffier Rice.
With the most vital will in the world, once you have the prep down, it’s pretty difficult to Mess up the Rice. However, getting rice right is tricky if you don’t have the prep down.
All Rice comes with a certain amount of “starch dust” from being in the bag with other Rice. Starch is the sticky element which makes rice clump together. All Rice has a little starch inside it. That’s what makes it a little sticky.
However, we want to avoid extra starch, which makes the Rice gooey and messy, which accounts for most failed rice attempts (not an actual statistic.
The first rinse is twofold. First, we can remove all the starch coating the Rice (it’s pretty much invisible and in powder form by the time it has hit your countertop). We want to check and discard any debris.
As Rice is fine food, there will often be “naturally occurring foreign objects” such as small stones, pieces of grass and the like.
These are expected and nothing to worry about if you find some grit in your rice bag.
Pop the Rice in a colander and run under cold water. Get your hands into the Rice and gently rub the grains as if you were washing your hands.
By this point, you will probably be able to see the excess water turn a milky Color – this is the starch we are washing off.
Be sure to get as much as possible, paying particular care to be as gentle as possible and break as little as possible. The more broken grains there are, the more starch will be released when we c9me to cook, so do yourself a foreword favour and limit the number of broken grains.
Run a bowl of cold water (essential, it’s hard) and rest your Rice in the bowl. Some people recommend soaking in rice or bay leaves. I haven’t found any use for putting seasons into the water you are soaking. I like to serve my food with less seasoning and allow guests to add their taste.
You should soak Rice for a minimum of 30 minutes.
ADVANCED TIP: Rice can be soaked for hours. If I know, I am cooking Rice later in the day. I will put a big bowl to soak in the morning, then set and forget. You can’t skip over the soaking process or even cheat a little.
So it’s better to go in a little prepared rather than scramble once the food is cooking and you have forgotten the Rice. (Yes, it happens a bit more than I would like to admit) usually leading me to serve bread with a meal instead!
Once you have soaked the Rice, pour it into a colander and rinse thoroughly with cold water. You will be able to see the starch is washed out of the Rice instantly. Which is probably one of the most satisfying processes I get to do.
Once the Rice is running clear, and you have moved the Rice around. You are now ready to cook.
At this point, you should see a difference in Rice. It should be a little more swollen but not sticky at all. It should look almost “clean”, or as clean as Rice can look,
The easy part, once you have Cooked a couple of great bowls of Rice, you are set for life.
The official foolproof way to cook is the golden ratio of 1:1, and I highly recommend this for your first few rice rounds. If you are starting, take a mental note of how much the water rises above the Rice.
Once you are a little more comfortable, you can start eyeballing measurements, being able to not only measure with your eyes but cook different amounts without using a cup.
Even better, you will be able to adjust water ratios to taste. I prefer my Rice slightly drier, so I change my water amount,
My technique calls for water to be only just above the water line, although if you attempt this, you should proceed with caution, as a few drops too little cause rice to be dry.
Once your Rice is done, there is one last “hack”. Open the lid to the rice cooker as soon as possible and fluff the Rice. This is essentially the motion of pulling the Rice apart to ensure it both stops cooking itself and stops clumping together.
Some prefer turning the Rice onto a plate to fluff and return to a serving bowl. Others fluff in the pot.
Either way, rice buffs stand by this last touch, and so do I.
Very important. Cooked Rice is good for 90 minutes at room temperature after cooking. After 90 mins, Rice then reaches optimum conditions for bacteria to multiply.
Before the 90-minute mark, you should either consume the Rice, throw the Rice, or refrigerate the Rice. I recommend refrigerating Rice. It’s excellent for egg-fried Rice or simply heating as is in the microwave.
Once you have reheated Rice, Rice should never be reheated again.
As a rule of thumb, Rice can be cooked and reheated once but never reheated again.
Fluffy Rice is achievable and accessible to anyone. Although reading these instructions sounds like fluffy Rice is a complicated affair, it’s not.
Remember to wash, soak and rinse the Rice – cook it in the rice cooker, then fluff up and enjoy.
